Grades for this year's Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth reveal that our country's kids are lazy. The Report Card assigned a "D" grade for active transportation, finding that 62 per cent of Canadian youth, aged five to 17, use only inactive modes of transportation to get to and from school. What's worse is the majority of families surveyed lived within a one and a half kilometre radius of the school. The top three reasons parents reported driving their kids to school were convenience, weather and distance from home.I didn't have it that easy when I was growing up and going to school. From kindergarten through post-secondary I recall walking to school, admittedly not always by choice. My mother pushed my sister and me to walk to school each day, and during high school that meant three and a half kilometres each way, twice a day. It didn't kill me, although some days I thought it could.Bad habits start at home, when we're young. We learn from our parents and the people who care for us. By driving our kids to and from school every day, we're teaching our next generations that it's ok to excuse our laziness to save a few minutes, to keep warmer in the winter or because one kilometre is just too far. If children and youth are driven to and from school, with less than one and a half kilometres to walk, what is the chance those same children will decide to park the car and walk to work? Stroll to the grocery store? Or be active in adulthood? If we don't teach our children to take the initiative now, why would they later? In the survey, parents responded that convenience was a top reason why they drove their children to school. Is it because you have to get up an extra half hour early to make little Johnny or Sarah lunch? Or is it because you don't want to argue every morning about what shoes and jacket, or lack thereof, they'll wear for the day? Maybe parents don't consider the time it takes to get everyone in the vehicle, buckled up, calmed down and off to school. By the time you hit two red lights, a stop sign and the rush-hour traffic, you probably didn't save yourself any time or grant yourself any convenience. Weather is no excuse in Canada, Saskatchewan nonetheless. Children are going to have to learn to grin and bear the cold weather, rainy days and the hot, hot heat of an early summer. Of course, you don't want your child arriving at school soaking wet, or coming home sick, but I think there are more days of decent rather than disastrous weather. And even so, sometimes it's actually easier and safer to walk rather than drive in poor weather. The third primary reason reported for driving children to school was distance. While I understand that safety is a large issue for parents, especially in larger centers, there are ways to navigate the issue. Parents can walk their children, or maybe arrange a buddy-system. I understand that families may live out of town, or on a route without sidewalks or trails, but if your kid can't walk to school make sure they still get out and get active. When I was a kid I'd spend hours running around the neighbourhood playing cops and robbers, touring with my friends in our gang of bicycles, boards and rollerblades or congregating at the local playground to swing on the monkey bars and take a turn on the slides, but you don't see that much anymore. Kids now are often too busy playing their virtual games to enjoy the real outdoor ones.
